Travel Adventures

Well, first of all I apologize to all of you that I had promised to call before leaving the country, and to all of you who I never even told when I was leaving the country.

We bought our plane tickets on the afternoon of the 6th, Ivan arrived for planning on the 9th, the rest of the team on the 10th, and then we left the country first thing on the morning of the 12th. Needless to say, I was running around like crazy packing and dealing with other preparations from the moment of purchase until finally arriving here to Merida, Venezuela on the evening of the 13th.


Here is the short version (read-on for the more detailed version):

-We left from Seattle the morning of September 12th.
-Had some crazy adventures...
-Arrived safely in Merida, Venezuela around 9pm the night of the 13th.


The more detailed version:


The flight from Seattle to Atlanta went well. They were actually able to put all five of us together, so it was pretty enjoyable. We even landed about 20 minutes early, which gave us a bit of extra time to pick up our baggage and re-check ourselves in for our Atlanta to Caracas flight (flown by a non-partner airline). The second flight went well also. Several of my teammates made friends, with some Venezuelans, as well as with some missionaries. They all sat near eachother, but I sat several rows up next to a slightly creepy, small young man. He never actually talked to me, except to ask me if he could help put my bag in the overhead bin, but every time I even slightly turned my head in his direction he would look at me... a good look... weird!

We arrived safely in Caracas Wednesday night, though one bag short. After working out the details of the bag, which was located still in Atlanta, we headed off to our Hostel for the night. The original plan had been two separate rooms, but the hostel apparently changed our reservation. We saved about a third of the money, however the five of us ended up in one big dorm-style room (air-conditioned though, thankfully!). I slept like a rock... but apparently we made the discovery that at least 4 of the 5 of us talk in our sleep! Not only do we talk, but we talk to each other. Ahh... Team Bonding!

Back to the airport and off to Merida. My Spanish really came in handy at this point, changing some money, paying for our overweight baggage for the small plane that would carry us to our final destination, paying airport taxes, etc. We had our very first Venezuelan "Arepa" for lunch. Quite tasty! (I'll explain more about foods later...) We boarded our plane for Merida, and the adventure REALLY began. The short version is that the plane had some major "technical" difficulties as we were about to take off. This photo expresses Eben's and my reactions to said difficulties. If you would like the more detail and obviously more exciting version however, you'll have to ask...

So, we were escorted off of the plane and back into the airport where we waited two hours for a new plane to arrive. We finally made it into the air on the second plane. A short time later however, it was announced that the Merida airport had been closed due to rain and that we'd be landing at another small airport about an hour outside of Merida.
Thankfully, after all of our ordeal, the airline paid for taxis into Merida. We had to split up, so ended up going to the airport first, since we couldn't communicate between the taxis and there was a possibility that the students and our Venezuelan teammate might still be waiting to meet us there. Finally though, we gave the drivers our address and blindly headed toward our apartments. After arriving at several incorrect buildings, we finally arrived at building "C" and THANKFULLY Claudia was there and ready to let us in.

Wow... So, ALL the adventures! I promise, all of my posts will not be this long!

So close!!!

Dear friends, I am now just under $300 per month shy of my support needs for the year in Venezuela. It looks as though we are planning to leave next Wednesday, September 5th.

So the big crunch is on. I'm soooo close! I still cannot get onto a plane and leave if this last little bit does not come in.

So pray, pray, and pray!! Please continue to let me know if you think of anyone else who might be encouraged to hear about the ministry in Merida.

Thanks!

https://give.ccci.org/give/0598804

$650

Well, my support has been coming in slowly but surely. I still find myself about $650 per month shy of my needs.

Please continue to pray and spread the word!

We are hoping to leave in the next week or so for Venezuela, and I cannot board a plane until I am fully funded!

STINT Briefing, August 12-19, 2007

We spent the week at the Copper Mountain ski resort area near Denver. We stayed in the housing used for all the ski instructors and such during the winter. For lack of a better term, I'll use the word "Ghetto" to describe our lodging. It was a great place to meet and such though and a very beautiful location. We rode the chair lift up the mountain and had lunch at the top one day. The view was amazing!

Meeting the Team:



The North American counterpart of our team finally were able to meet and spend the week together. I will briefly introduce my teammates now, though I'm sure I'll give better introductions when I have gotten to know them a little better.

From left to right, we are: Amanda Coonts from Boise, Idaho, myself!, Chelsea Hasenpflug from Sequim, WA, Eben Allen from Portland, OR, and Ivan Bucher from Homer, AK.

We look forward to meeting Claudia our Venezuelan teammate very soon!

Training:

The week focused on four "L's".
1. Love the Lord.
2. Love your team.
3. Launching movements.
4. Learning a new world.

All the things that will hopefully help make us faithfull and successfull in our time on the university in Merida.

Support:

We arrived for training with probably around 60-65% of our support collectively. We spent some time together working on phone calls and follow-up with people and saw God do amazing things! In one afternoon we saw our support increase collectively by over $1,000 per month!

As we left at the end of the week we were at about 80% as a team. We must be at 100% to leave for Venezuela, so please keep praying and spreading the word!

Fun:

We had so much fun getting to know each other throughout the week. One night we spent about 2 hours with bubble gum, just hanging out and goofing around. When I find the photos I will post a few.

Denver

My week in Denver was fun. I stayed with a friend from junior high and highschool, her husband, and a very comical black and white puppy named Sugar. Yes, another puppy! (another schizophrenic puppy... possibly worse than Kavu)

I spent a lot of time just catching up on some work that I needed to do, but I also played around downtown one day. I visited the University of Colorado in Boulder and Colorado Christian University in Denver as well. No near future plans... just checking out some grad programs perhaps for sometime down the road. Let's see... some other highlights were a street market, some good coffe, and the Princess Bride on a huge screen in the park.

Then it was off to Copper Mountain for training with my Stint team to Merida, Venezuela.

Kavu

Okay... some fun randomness from my time in California. It should have been posted more than a week ago, but my computer has been spazzing... here it is though... enjoy :-) Just pretend that you are reading it awhile ago... haha
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We got a puppy!! Okay, okay... I'll be honest... "I" did nothing of the sort, but it is the closest I'll be getting for awhile, global nomad that I am.

I arrived in Reno, Nevada yesterday morning totally unaware of the adventures in store for the day. We spent the next 4 hours or so waiting for pounds to open, seeing way too many cats and dogs. Finally, when we were about to give up, we met Kavu, formerly known as Rex or Lance.

Kavu is a 7 month sweetheart of a dog. He is some sort of a lab mix, maybe with a little bit of boxer or pitbull from the shape of his face. He is a dark golden color with four white socks and a little whit on his chest. He is basically just a great big giant puppy. Sadly, he's got a bit of separation anxiety, which we are working on. He about has a heart attack if you try and leave him in a different room. We seem to be making progress on this already though!

After deciding that the pre-selected name "Scooter" was not appropriate for the dog, we spent the ride from Reno to Grass Valley, California brainstorming other names. Some of the favorites were Tahoe, Denali, and Keenine (some place in Alaska that I have never heard of and don't have a clue how to say or spell...). Kavu fits him well, as well as fits the outdoors lifestyle of his parents. (Kavu by the way is a brand of outdoor clothing and gear. I don't remember what the acronym stands for. Kavu is also an adjective... whose meaning I also don't remember...)

Anyway... this has been very exciting. We took him to the river today and discovered the schizophrenic, hyperactive side of the dog as he chased his own splashes in the water for a good solid 30 minutes...

Well, you probably are wondering why I took the "I" out of the equation, since I am obviously a part of it... My brother Josh and his wife Jen are the proud parents of this large and slightly slobbery bundle of joy. I am only the visiting auntie.

...sigh...

Support

Just a note on support for my year in Merida, Venezuela with Campus Crusade for Christ (more to come).

I am currently at 60% of my needs and praying big!! Please pray with me and the rest of our team that our support will be complete very soon!

Follow me if you can!

July 31-August 6

In just over 7 hours I will be on a plane bound for Reno, Nevada. (I'm actually headed to Nevada City, California... but that is the airport of choice for this trip. I will be in and around Nevada City from the 31st - August 6th hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law, working on their new house, and doing some fun summer stuff like backpacking and playing in the river! Let's just say I am very excited, as I have spent basically all of the summer so far either working and support raising, mostly stuck behind the computer or with a phone glued to my ear.

August 6-August 11

Denver, staying with some good friends... more to come!

August 12-19

Briefing/Training with the whole Stint team at Copper Mountain, Colorado... again, more to come!

** Hopefully this will give a bit of an idea about where I am and what I'm up to in the next few weeks. As always, email, facebook and cell phone are all great ways to reach me and I should be accessible except for a couple days of backpacking.

Again, I conform...

So, I avoided MySpace as long as possible. I held out on facebook until I finally came to grips with the fact that basically everyone I know, and their sister is on there. Blogs were way beyond my comprehendible list of conformity... but alas. The time has come. You all deserve to see updates, photos, prayer requests, and of course random culture experiences and awkward situations.

So here it is. Sarah's official first ever blog. I apologize for the rather pathetic state of the page as this is all new to me and I am still working on putting a picture in my profile and finding the perfect words to describe myself, my calling, and what this page will be.